Humphry Davy's miners' safety lamp | The Royal Institution: Science Lives Here Davy lamp → Humphry Davy's miners' safety lamp The first ever prototype of Davy’s miner’s safety lamp. Created in 1815, it was designed to be lit safely for miners to use without allowing the heat from the flame to explode the concentration of methane gas often found as miners dug deeper. Humphry Davy miners' lamps. Basement Laboratory of the Ri Alternative name Mining, Humphry Davy, coal, gauze, safety lamp, firedamp, light, invention Description Following a number of serious explosions in North East coal mines due to pockets of flammable gas known as 'firedamp', Humphry Davy was asked by the Rector of Bishopwearmouth (near Newcastle) to find a means of lighting coal mines safely. In an intense period of work from mid-October to December 1815, Davy made various prototype lamps. The final design was very simple: a basic lamp with a wire gauze chimney enclosing the flame. The holes let light pass through, but the metal of the gauze absorbs the heat.

The lamp is safe to use because the flame can't heat enough flammable gas to cause an explosion, although the flame itself will change colour. The lamp was successfully tested in Hebburn colliery in January 1816 and quickly went into production. The introduction of the lamp had an immediate effect, decreasing the number of fatalities per million tons of coal produced enormously and also increased the amount of coal produced as it allowed miners to mine deeper seams of coal. In this way it made a fundamental contribution to the continuing industrialisation of Britain and to many other mining countries, during the nineteeth century. At precisely the same time however George Stephenson, a mining engineer at Killingworth Colliery, was also working on the problem. He independently invented a remarkably similar lamp and soon the two inventors were locked in a bitter dispute over priority. Davy needed to differentiate his lamp from Stephenson’s and therefore claimed that his invention was the product of scientific research, despite there being very little science in it - indeed the only science in the lamp is the discovery (made independently by Davy, Stephenson and Smithson Tennant) that explosions would not pass through narrow tubes.

Davy won this battle of words going on to become President of the Royal Society, while Stephenson went on to invent the first steam powered locomotive for the railroad. To help rubbish Stephenson’s claims Davy acquired some of his lamps to try to demonstrate how useless they were. These can be found on display alongside Davy’s prototypes in the Light Corridor area of our exhibition, on the lower ground floor. Where can I view this? This object is currently on display in the lower ground floor of the Royal Institution in the Faraday Museum . More images Humphry Davy's miners safety lamp Credit: Royal Institution safety lamp | coal mining | Britannica.com Safety lamp wick Safety lamp, lighting device used in places, such as mines, in which there is danger from the explosion of flammable gas or dust. In the late 18th century a demand arose in England for a miner’s lamp that would not ignite the gas methane ( firedamp ), a common hazard of English coal mines. W. Reid Clanny , an Irish physician, invented a lamp about 1813 in which the oil-fuelled flame was separated from the atmosphere by water seals; it required continual pumping for operation.

In 1815 the English engineer George Stephenson invented a lamp that kept explosive gases out by pressure of the flame’s exhaust and held the flame in by drawing in air at high speed. In 1815 Sir Humphry Davy invented the lamp that bears his name. Davy used a two-layer metal gauze chimney to surround and confine the flame and to conduct the heat of the flame away. Electric hand and cap lamps were introduced in mines in the early 1900s and by the middle of the 20th century were used almost exclusively in mines. A safety device in the headpiece of the electric lamps shuts off the current if a bulb is broken. Double-filament bulbs may be used, so the light can remain on when a filament fails. The flame of a safety lamp elongates in the presence of firedamp, but electric lamps give no warning of noxious gases or lack of oxygen. Consequently, a flame safety lamp must be kept burning within easy view of the workers, or frequent inspections must be made, using a flame lamp or other form of warning device.

Learn More in these related articles: Humphry Davy and the “safety lamp controversy” | Andrew Lacey | Science | The Guardian The H word Humphry Davy and the “safety lamp controversy” This year marks the bicentenary of the invention of the Davy Lamp. But should credit for the first miners’ safety lamp be shared? Stephenson’s lamp (left) and Davy’s wire gauze lamp (right). On 25 January 1816, Davy reported to the Royal Society that prototypes of his gauze lamp had been tested “in two of the most dangerous mines near Newcastle, with perfect success”. From George Clementson Greenwell, A Practical Treatise on Mine Engineering (1869). Andrew Lacey Share on Messenger Close Almost two hundred years ago, on 9 November 1815, Humphry Davy, formerly Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution, presented to the Royal Society the paper he later published as ‘On the Fire-damp of Coal Mines, and on Methods of Lighting the Mines so as to Prevent its Explosion’.

In it, Davy described his researches into the chemical composition of “fire-damp” – the common name given to the naturally occurring mixture of flammable gases, mostly methane, that had caused several horrific mining disasters – and outlined several designs of lamp that might be used safely in the presence of the gas. Less than a month later, the Tyne Mercury published a hostile letter from a J. H. H. Holmes, prompted by “Several statements … in the London, Edinburgh, and different provincial papers of this district, relating to a lamp, or lamps, invented, or said to be invented, by Sir Humphry Davy, for preventing explosion in coal mines”. In it, Holmes accused Davy of “borrow[ing the] principles” of William Reid Clanny, a Sunderland-based physician who, in 1813, had also presented to the Royal Society a paper outlining his own design of safety lamp. Had Davy actually “borrowed” – or, more plainly, plagiarised – anything of Clanny’s? We know that, on a fact-finding visit to the north-east, Davy had been lent an example of Clanny’s lamp by the inventor himself.

Davy studied it, and returned it the next day. The key feature of Davy’s so-called “safe lamp” of October 1815 was a series of narrow ventilation tubes, within which, Davy found, fire-damp would not explode. Clanny’s lamp made use of bellows and a pair of water cisterns to maintain an isolated flame. As a private letter to James Perry of 13 December 1815 ( now held at Yale University Library ) attests, Davy was adamant that his lamp (described second) was sufficiently different in principle to Clanny’s lamp (described first) to explain away Holmes’s objection, which he considered a “libel”: You will judge what analogy there is between a lamp burning between two columns of water & supplied with air by a bellows worked by hand or machinery; & a simple close lantern supplied with air by canals through which explosions cannot pass. The claims made against Davy throughout 1816-17 by supporters of George Stephenson, a Northumberland-born engineer, proved more difficult to counter.

On 21 October 1815, Stephenson had successfully tested a safety lamp of his own design, which, like Davy’s, operated on the principle of restricting the flow of air being drawn into it. On 30 October, Davy had communicated several designs of lamp, including his “safe lamp” with narrow ventilation tubes, to friends by private letter. By 4 November, Stephenson was testing a lamp which had three narrow ventilation tubes in the base. Stephenson, the largely self-educated mechanic, arrived at his design of lamp by what has been called “practical empiricism”: a combination of, as David Knight has observed , intuition and common sense, involving a fair amount of trial and error. Davy, on the other hand, the established and well-connected man of science, understood the principle by which his lamp worked: he spent hours experimenting on samples of fire-damp, sent in sealed bottles from the north-east, in the laboratory of the Royal Institution, then used his research findings to shape his design. Davy and Stephenson had worked independently, and there is no persuasive evidence of any kind of “borrowing” on either side in 1815.

Davy had had the benefit of seeing a working example of Clanny’s lamp, but his own “safe lamp” with narrow ventilation tubes was a very different machine to Clanny’s. The improved lamp Davy designed in the final days of December, which replaced the tubes with a wire gauze cylinder enclosing the flame, was, again, a different machine to Stephenson’s. Evidently, attempting to recognise the inventor of the miners’ safety lamp is problematic. It was such reductiveness that ignited and then fuelled the “safety lamp controversy”, which was played out – on newspaper letters pages, at public meetings, and in private correspondence – for months. Several different lamps, produced in response to a common problem by several different inventors, were in co-existence in the 1810s. The drawn-out quarrelling between opposing camps meant that that co-existence was rarely peaceful, though. Clanny’s early lamp, being unwieldy and requiring continuous pumping of the bellows, saw only minimal use; he did, however, receive recognition from the Society of Arts for it. Stephenson’s and Davy’s lamps, which were more compact and more practical than Clanny’s, operated on a different principle.

And, although Stephenson was the first to test his lamp in a working mine, Davy was the first to understand the science behind his lamp in the laboratory. Clanny, Stephenson, and Davy can each attach priority – or the condition of being first – to their lamps, but of a different type in each case. As the case of Davy’s and Stephenson’s safety lamps demonstrates, it is possible to arrive, contemporaneously, at very similar ideas or designs independently and by different means, which serves as a reminder that claims to absolute priority should be treated with caution. The initial invention and subsequent development of Davy’s and Stephenson’s lamps in the autumn and winter of 1815 appears to be an occurrence of “multiple independent discovery”, as commented on by Robert K. Merton , amongst others. When Davy presented his improved lamp, featuring gauze rather than narrow ventilation tubes, Stephenson would not allow that the use of gauze was anything other than “a variation in construction”. So, even when Davy had pushed his design forward in a way that Stephenson never really did, the latter’s charge of plagiarism against the former remained.

Stephenson’s unwillingness to concede ground to Davy is understandable: the winner in the race to establish priority, as Michael Strevens has noted , takes all. The “prize” for all runners-up is the nullification of hours – or years – of honest labour. Some of Davy’s most extraordinary letters, most of which remain unpublished, relate to Stephenson and the safety lamp controversy. When The Collected Letters of Sir Humphry Davy is published in 2018, marking the culmination of the decade-long Davy Letters Project , the most complete and detailed account to date of Davy’s work on this most contested of inventions, as well as many other previously obscure details of his life and work, will be brought to light. Andrew Lacey is a Senior Research Associate at Lancaster University, working on the Davy Letters Project . Who Invented the Flame Safety Lamp Who Invented the Flame Safety Lamp? The invention of the flame safety lamp is often attributed to Sir Humphrey Davy, the renowned Cornish scientist and scholar.

There is no doubt of his contribution, but it is also unfair to lay all the credit at his door; there are as many supporters for George Stephenson's claim, and others hold that it was William Clanny who developed the first truly useful safety lamp. Perhaps the fairest thing that can be said is that all three contributed to the initial development of the flame safety lamp. Fairly typically, the contribution of non-english speaking scientists is ignored, and few have ever heard of Alexander von Humboldt, the German polymath who demonstrated the safe use of a flame light in an underground coal mine many years before the British establishment sought the help of Sir Humphrey Davy. Clanny's first lamp was possibly derived from this early, but hardly portable, example. So the prize for the first successful underground demonstration of safe flame lighting must go to von Humboldt, a Prussian mine inspector who, after only a few years, abandoned the mining industry and went on to explore South America and document much of the continent's flora and fauna. But this was only the beginning of the development of the safety lamp.

Although none of the original developers claimed a patent on their ideas, leaving manufactures free to provide safe lighting for miners (at a price, of course!), many others patented devices and modifications to improve the basic design. Over the years, patents have been issued in many countries for burners, locking mechanisms, relighting mechanisms and heat dissipating bonnets, as well as methods for increasing the reliability and accuracy of lamps used to detect the levels of methane in the mine air. The constant development of flame safety lamps to meet the changing needs of miners for safe, effective lighting, and the detection of dangerous mine atmospheres has resulted in a huge diversity in lamp design and construction, which makes their collection such a satisfying pastime. Davy attempted at least three designs of safety lamp, and reported his early results to the Royal Institution on November 9, 1815. The manuscript lecture (still available for reference in the archives of the Royal institution) makes no reference to the use of wire gauze. The original, hand drawn figures prepared by Michael Faraday do not show a wire gauze lamp.

Interestingly, the published version of this lecture includes a drawing of a gauze-enclosed lamp, and mentions the use of gauze in the text. The first definitive description of his lamp was made on December 31, 1815 in "Philosophical Magazine". He made no reference to previous mention of the design. Both Stephenson's and Davy's lamps enclosed the flame. William Clanny introduced the glass globe, allowing more light to work by, although at first the durability of the glass was questioned, and some colliery officials forswore glass-globed lamps in favour of traditional Stephenson / Davy types for many years. Clanny's first lamp, which he developed in 1813 and presented to the Royal Society in a lecture, used a water trap at the inlet and outlet to the lamp, and a set of bellows was used to force air through the lamp to keep the flame alight. The lamp was not parctical for general use, but was of enough significance for Clanny to be awarded a Siver medal from the Royal Sociey of Arts in 1816.

Alexander von Humboldt There is no doubt that Stephenson began work on his safety lamp in August, 1815, about the same time that Davy received a request from the Society for Preventing Accidents in Mines in Sunderland to consider ways of providing safe underground lighting. Stephenson was working at Killingworth Pit in Northumberland at the time, and asserted to his "viewer" that he could make an automatic safety lamp. Nicholas Wood, a local tinsmith, visted Stephenson that evening and they roughed out the design of his first lamp. He showed his lamp publicly on December 5th, 1815, demonstrating its effectiveness with pigs bladders full of methane gas. Stephenson's lamp protected the general body of mine air from the enclosed flame with both narrow tubes and a perforated metal screen, the latter having much the same effect as the wire gauzes subsequently used by Davy.

Stephenson's Safety Lamp (after NCB, 1981) Davy's Safety Lamp (after NCB, 1981) Clanny's Safety Lamp (after NCB, 1981) BBC - A History of the World - Object : Humprhy Davy's miners' safety lamp Humprhy Davy's miners' safety lamp Show image caption In the 19th century mining was a very dangerous business: miners had only basic tools and worked by open candle flame. Down the coal mines there were places where there was a high concentration of methane gas which would explode when it came into contact with the heat from a flame. In 1815, after many miners were killed in several explosions in north-east England, Humphry Davy was asked if he could make a light for miners which would be safe to use. He spent two months in the Royal Institution laboratories, working intensively on the problem. He tried various methods before realising that if metal gauze was put around the flame, the light could still pass through the holes but the gauze would absorb the heat. It was no longer hot enough to ignite the gas. His prototype lamp is shown above.

The new safety lamp was immediately put into production and deaths were dramatically reduced. But, while the safety lamp meant that there was no longer such a threat from explosions, it also meant that mines could be dug deeper than ever which meant they were still very dangerous places to work. Mining Lights and Hats | National Museum of American History Object Groups Mining Lights and Hats The depth, the dark, and the dangers inherent in mining created a uniquely dangerous working environment for the miner. Miners faced death from collapsing mines, oxygen deprivation, and haulage accidents, with the specter of fatal lung disease remaining even after the miner had left the mines. But the most instantaneous and catastrophic loss of life was caused by explosions due to miner’s lamps igniting methane gas. 20th c. Canvas Mining Cap & Lamp Bracket A miner’s light was essential to their labor. Without light there was no sight, no work, and no wages. But this essential light was also lethal. Open flames could ignite the inflammable gas especially prevalent in coal mines and mining explosions with hundreds of casualties was a common occurrence in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Miners often carried open flames into the mines in the form of candles and hanging lamps, and later wore the open flames of carbide lamps and oil-wick lamps on their caps and helmets. Before 1850, miners would use candles or small lamps that were hung from crevices or hammered into timbers near their work. From 1850 until around 1915, miner’s headgear generally consisted of cloth or canvas hats with leather brims and metal lamp brackets on the forehead that allowed them to hang a source of light on the front of their cap. Caps served the ancillary use of protecting the miner’s eyes from smoke or soot and their head from small bumps, but its main purpose was as a mount for their lamps. Dunlap's Oil-Wick Cap Lamp,ca. 1840-1890 Around 1850, the oil-wick cap lamp was invented in Scotland. Oil-wick cap lamps were shaped like small kettles—a small font that contained oil fueled a wick that was stuffed into the spout.

The oil-wick cap lamp issued a bare flame, giving off enough light for miners to see what was in front of their face, but not much further. The oil-fueled flame was exceedingly smoky , and could easily ignite flammable gasses (mainly methane) found in coal mines. These lamps were worn on soft caps that offered little in the way of protection and were mainly worn for the convenience of having a light source in front of the miner's face. Simmons Carbide Lamp, ca. 1915 Carbide lamps were also worn on soft caps. Invented around 1910, the small carbide cap lamp had several advantages over an oil-wick cap lamp. The acetylene gas that powered the flame burned cleanly, relieving the miner from the smoke and soot from oil lamps. Also, the flame from the acetylene gas burned brighter than oil-wick cap lamps. Carbide lamps often came with a reflector, allowing this brighter flame to be directed and giving the miner a wider range of light. The drawback of the carbide lamp was that its open flame was still capable of igniting methane gas in mines.

Used in conjunction with oil-wick and carbide cap lamps was the safety lamp , a much larger lamp that could not be worn, but had the advantage of a sheltered flame that would not ignite any flammable mine gasses. In the early 1820s Sir Humphry Davy discovered that a flame enclosed in mesh would not ignite flammable gasses. The fine metal mesh served to cool the flame so that it no longer had the energy required to ignite the flammable gas in a mine. Mine safety lights eventually developed to include a glass enclosure around the flame for better lighting and metal bonnet to better protect the flame. Miner's with Edison Battery-powered Lamps and Safety Lamp,Warwick Mine, Pennsylvania ca. 1955 Even though it was developed in the 19th century, the safety lamp was not enthusiastically adopted by miners. Many miners objected to using safety lamps because they were cumbersome, could not be worn on the cap, and gave a poor light, all serving to reduce a miner’s efficiency. Since most miners were paid by the pound a reduction in efficiency amounted to a reduction in pay, and so the risk of an explosion was worth the reward to many miners.

The early 20th century was the deadliest time for miners in the history of the United States. In 1907, Monongah mines number 6 and number 8 exploded, killing 362 miners. A fire in Cherry Mine in Cherry, Illinois killed 259 miners in 1909. In 1913 Stag Canon Mine number 2 in Dawson, New Mexico exploded killing 263 miners. These were the three worst coal mine disasters in the U.S. history, prompting Congress to establish the U.S. Bureau of Mines in 1910. The Bureau turned their attention to the new technology of electric lamps in an effort to curtail accidents through the elimination of flames and an improvement in lighting. In 1915 the Bureau approved the MSA Edison Flameless Electric Miners’ Cap Lamp , beginning the age of electric mine illumination that correlated with a steady decrease in mining accidents from the high reached in 1907. Just like the soft mining caps that were used to hold oil-wick or carbide mining lamps, mining helmets were used to hold the new electric cap lamp.

The lamp sat in a bracket at the front of the helmet, with the cord running along the helmet's crown, guided by a cord holder in the back of the helmet to route the cable directly to the battery pack worn on the miner’s belt. MSA Skullgard Helmet ca. 1930s The protective helmets in the collection of the Division of Work and Industry of the National Museum of American History generally consists of two helmet types. Either the “Hard Boiled” brand of helmet made by E.D. Bullard Company in San Francisco, California, or the plastic Skullgard or Comfo-Cap manufactured by the Mine Safety Appliances Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Carbide lamps were still used with hard protective helmets, but helmets that used electric lamps often had a cord holder to keep the cord out of the miner’s way. A form of this helmet and electric lamp combination is still worn today. Contemporary lamps include improvements in battery life and weight, a change to LED bulbs, and breakaway or segmented cords to allow the miner to be less inhibited by his battery pack.

Collections Search Welsh miners cambrian flame safety brass lamps ABERDARE, MID GLAMORGAN Safety Lamps - Past and Present In the early days of mining in this United Kingdom, bunches of resinous were used for lighting the outcrop workings. In these early days there was little, if any, circulation of air in the workings so the dangers from explosions, due to firedamp, were not great owing to the fact that marsh gas requires a certain proportion of air before it becomes explosive. On the continent earthen oil lamps were used at first, until the fear of explosions led to the use of dried fish skins from which a faint phosphorescence was emitted. It is obvious, however, that such a method must have led to mining work being carried on practically without light. Tallow candles were subsequently used both for the works and for searching out gas. A small candle (30 to 40 to the lb.) was carried in a wet lump of clay - the flame reduced in size by placing clay at its lower extremity near the exposed portion of the wick according to Caleb Pamely's “Colliery Managers’ Handbook”.

The candle was raised from the floor very gradually in an upright position with one hand of the observer held palm outwards towards the light to shield it entirely from view except the very tip of the flame. As it was raised an appearance of 'top' or 'cap' of blue flame above the candle flame indicated the presence of gas in the air. As soon as this appeared the candle would be gently lowered, the searcher would withdraw with as little disturbance as possible, and the gaseous mixture dispersed as safely as possible. Where the quantity of gas was small it might be waved away with a coat or piece of brattice cloth. Before com­mencing to do this, the man would retire to a distance, away from the outgoing currents, his candle left out of the passing firedamp. Another method of eliminating a small quantity of gas was to set fire to it. A special operator or ‘fireman’ with tremendous nerve did this at night. Protective attire might consist of wool, or leather, well damped, with the man’s face and head protected by a mask or hood. Using a long stick with a lighted candle attached to the end, he would crawl the last few yards toward the explosive gas, his head and body close to the floor.

Immediately afterwards he would stand upright (or as much as the space would allow) to avoid the carbonic acid gas left by the explosion. The name 'fireman' has been retained to the present day for the man who searches for gas. In some countries he was called the 'penitent', on account of the resemblance of his dress to certain religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church. In many instances, in spite of all precautions, the fireman did not survive the explosion. The first apparatus for producing light was Spedding's ‘Steel Mill’, patented in 1760. It consisted of a spur wheel and steel disc placed in a small steel frame, at the end of which the operator held a piece of flint. The continuous succession of sparks emitted by the rotation of the disc against the flint gave warning of danger by indicating the presence of firedamp. The faith in the ‘Mill’ was immediately shattered by a serious explosion at the Wallsend Colliery in 1785. About this time attempts were made to light collieries by sunlight reflected by mirrors down the shaft.

The first attempt to use a lamp was made by Humboldt in 1798, but it would not burn in the presence of impure air and was therefore of no use in a coal mine. The first person to demonstrate that a steady light could be employed in coal mines without the danger of external explosion, was Dr. William Reid Clanny, of Sunderland. On May 20th, 1813, he announced his discovery at a meeting at the Royal Society of Arts in London, when he presented the Society with the first miner's 'Safety Lamp'. The first colliery in which a safety lamp was used was the Herrington Mill Pit, now the property of the Earl of Durham. The date was October 16th, 1815. It was Dr. Clanny's modification of his first safety lamp. For this lamp he was awarded a medal by the Society of Arts in May 1816. In 1848, two years before his death, he was presented with a public testimonial in recognition of his services as the constructor and inventor of the very first safety lamp. This lamp consisted of a metal case containing a candle.

It was fitted with a semicircular glass, and the air was fed by a pair of bellows. The first oil-burning, safety lamp, utilizing gauze cylinders, was invented by Sir Humphrey Davy. He never claimed to be the inventor of the Miners' Safety Lamp. In fact, on November 9th, 1815, when announcing to the Royal Society his discoveries on the nature and properties of firedamp, he gave a description of Clanny's lamp, which he had seen in use at a northern colliery. He described it as 'an ingenious arrangement for burning a candle supplied with atmospherical air by a bellows through water'. The first Davy Lamp was tried at Hebburn Colliery, January lst, 1816. Strictly speaking, the 'Davy' is not a lamp but a scientific instrument for detecting the presence of firedamp. All lamps of the present day embrace the principles of the Clanny and the Davy. The first lamp made for George Stephenson was tried at Killing­worth Colliery, Northumberland, October 21st, 1815. It was a com­parative failure.

Stephenson's third lamp was more successful, and on December 21st, 1815, he exhibited it to a number of colliery owners and officials at the Literary and Philosophical Institute, Newcastle upon Tyne. Gratification at this success was checked when he learned that Davy had also entered the field. Davy was the competitor he feared. Stephenson did not hesitate to adopt Davy's idea of the gauze cylinder nor did he regard it as piracy. In his pamphlet entitled 'A Description of the Safety Lamp invented by George Stephenson', published in 1817, he states that he regarded the substitution of a 'gauze cylinder for a perforated case' as 'merely a variation in construction'. Nor was he inclined to give Davy much credit for his discovery, declaring that 'the person who first constructed the perforated tin can lanthron in common use may, with great justice, claim the merit of having surrounded flame with a substance less liable to injury than glass', which he subsequently produced as the 'Improved Stephenson', or 'Geordie'. This lamp was practically a Davy Lamp with a glass cylinder inside the gauze.

Indeed, the Royal Commissioners, in their report dated March 15th, 1896, stated, 'if the glass breaks the Stephenson Lamp becomes a Davy'. The 'Davy' and 'Geordie' have long since been relegated to the list of obsolete lamps. Stephenson, however, frankly admitted his indebtedness to Dr. Clanny. In his pamphlet already referred to, he states, 'There can be no question upon the merit of the discovery, as there is no doubt that Dr. Clanny directed his talents to the subject and had constructed his original lamp, before I had reduced my ideas into practice.' Continuing his experiments, and following up Davy's discoveries, Dr. Clanny, in conjunction with the late John Mills, to whom he granted the sole right of manufacture, eventually produced his 'lmproved Clanny Lamp'. He adopted gauze cylinders but made them 2 inches shorter than Davy's. He used a circular glass for surrounding the flame, but made it 3 inches shorter than Stephenson's.

Improved scientific methods of ventilation so greatly increased the velocity of air currents in coal mines, that in course of time, neither the Davy, Clanny, nor Stephenson lamps proved of practical ability in currents exceeding 400 to 800 feet per minute. In some cases their employment provided an element of danger, for among miners and officials there prevailed considerable ignorance on the question of noxious gas and the principles of the safety lamp. Thus it happened that for several years after the introduction of safety lamps explosions in coal mines were more frequent and more disastrous than they had ever been before. In Belgium and France, where the mines are deep and fiery, Governments made the use of safety lamps a question for the state, and they appointed Commissioners to decide the merits of the various lamps then in use. Both Governments decided in favor of the Mueseler, and the use of other kinds was prohibited. This, how­ever, did not prevent the recurrence of appalling disasters, and the Mueseler, it was found, was in certain circumstances, a more dangerous lamp than some of those it superseded. The Mueseler is a form of the Clanny with a chimney inside the gauze.

In 1884, the British Government appointed a Royal Commission, 'To inquire into accidents in mines, and the possible means of preventing their recurrence or limiting their disastrous consequences'. In the course of their investigation, they found that 'at least 60 per cent of the average of the deaths resulting from accidents in connection with coal mines were caused by explosions of firedamp and from falls from the roof and sides'. It was clearly proved that, to a large extent, these disasters were due to the inefficiency, or to the defective construction of safety lamps. The committee, therefore, 'considered it their duty to give special attention to the subject of safety lamps'. The Commissioners resolved, to test, practically, every form of safety lamp then in use, and to decide which, in their opinion, most nearly fulfilled the essential qualifications. For this purpose they invited makers, inventors, and users of safety lamps in the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, and Germany to send them lamps to be tested and reported on. In response, more than 250 lamps were sent in. Mr.

Ellis Lever, realizing the importance of the task which the Commissioners had undertaken, offered a prize of 500 Pds Stlg for 'the best safety lamp', the tests to be conducted at Woolwich Arsenal by a specially selected committee which included several members of the Royal Commission. The principle which guided the Royal Commission was that adopted by the Belgian and French Governments - viz., that the safest lamp was that which would most effectually withstand the influence of a strong current of explosive air. Before the Commissioners, or the Woolwich Arsenal Committee, had concluded their tests, a French mining engineer (M. J. B. Marsuat) proved, by a series of elaborate experiments, that the principle was entirely wrong. He clearly demonstrated that, as there was no uniform velocity in the air-currents of a mine, a lamp constructed to burn safely in a strong current was a source of extreme danger when used in a stagnant atmosphere of explosive gas. His experiments proved that the gas entered the lamp, and remained there till the lamp was again brought in to a current sufficiently strong to force it through. The confined volume of gas then ignited and caused an explosion. This, M.

Marsuat stated, 'is an important key to certain accidents, hitherto ignored, assuredly very disquieting and which gives a key to certain accidents which have been difficult to explain'. The Royal Commissioners frankly admitted their mistake. In their report (page 87) they stated: 'The experiments conducted by M. Marsuat were so complete and so thoroughly established the truth of his observations that we thought it unnecessary to undertake a fresh investigation of the subject on an extended scale. We have, however, repeated a few of his experiments, and the results are in general accord with those obtained by him.' Thus the Royal Commission and the Woolwich Arsenal Committee found no lamp then in use entirely fulfilled the essential qualifications they had established. The 500 Pds Stlg was not awarded. The Royal Commissioners, however, finally decided in favor of four lamps, 'in which the quality of safety, in a preeminent degree, is combined with simplicity of construction, and with illuminating power at least fully equal to that of the lamps hitherto in general use. These four lamps were: Gray's Lamp, Evan Thomas No. 7, Marsuat, and Meuseler Bonneted. In our experiments the No.

7 has given, upon the whole, the best results.' They reported, however, that the use of the 'Mueseler' was attended with a certain amount of danger so ‘care must be taken to avoid a considerable inclination from the vertical direction, …. but with the Marsuat' they stated, 'there is no probability of the flame being ex­tinguished under any circumstances attending ordinary use'. These statements were fully substantiated by the Woolwich Arsenal Com­mittee. On the recommendation of the Royal Commissioners certain improvements were made in the 'Marsuat' Lamps, viz., in the locking of the lamp's bottom and in fixing of the case. The illuminating power of the 'Marsuat' exceeds that of other kinds burning animal or vegetable oil. An analysis of the Commissioners' report shows that, though 250-300 lamps were tested, they had all, in a greater or a lesser degree, essential points of resemblance. They classified the oil burning lamps under six types, three English and three Belgian. The English types were the 'Davy', 'Stephenson' and 'Clanny'; the Belgian types were the 'Mueseler', 'Boty' and 'Eloin'.

Of the 'Eloin' (patented in 1850), they reported 'it is closely allied to the 'Stephenson' Lamp; of the original 'Boty' (adopted in 1 881 by the Belgian Government) they stated 'it is a Clanny Lamp in general form'; and of the 'Mueseler' they reported 'it is derived from the 'Clanny". Thus the safety lamps used so extensively on the Continent, at that time, were all adaptations of the three original English types. A thoroughly efficient safety lamp is not a mere mechanical contrivance for giving light in a coal mine. It is an instrument con­structed in accordance with established laws of physical science. It ensures the burning of a protected flame in the presence of explosive gas, by regulating the necessary supply of atmospheric air, and by allowing the products of combustion to pass through without igniting the gaseous atmosphere. If the atmosphere is so heavily charged that noxious gas enters the lamp, its presence will be indicated by a change in the length and color of the flame, and (unless there are exceptional circumstances), the miner has sufficient warning to secure his safety.

The principles on which a thoroughly efficient safety lamp is constructed are practical, not theoretical. The component parts must all be in direct ratio. This ratio has been so accurately determined by practical tests, that any deviation from the established standards will adversely affect either the illuminating capacity of the lamp or its value as an indicator of danger. The reports of the Royal Commissioners on 'Accidents in Mines' (1886) and the Woolwich Arsenal Committee, show, however, that several inventors, and makers, who sent safety lamps for testing, or in competition, were either wholly ignorant of this fact and of the laws of physical science, or they did not regard them as of any importance. The most flagrant deviation from established standards was in the case of the 'Scotch Davy', a lamp made in direct violation of the laws of physical science. Sir Humphrey Davy stated, as the result of pro­tracted experiments, that 'when a cylindrical gauze is used, it should not be more than 2 inches in diameter, for a larger cylinder the com­bustion of the firedamp renders the top inconveniently hot'. The 'Scotch Davy', however, was made from 2.9 in.

to 3.3 in. in diameter. Davy restricted the height of his gauze to 7 inches; in the 'Scotch Davy' the height was 10 inches, exclusive of cap or top. Humphry Davy - Inventor of the First Electic Lamp By Mary Bellis Updated February 02, 2016. Sir Humphry Davy was a famous British inventor, the leading chemist of his day, and a philosopher. Quote from Humphry Davy "Fortunately science, like that nature to which it belongs, is neither limited by time nor by space. It belongs to the world, and is of no country and no age. The more we know, the more we feel our ignorance; the more we feel how much remains unknown..." November 30, 1825 Work Pure sodium was first isolated by Humphry Davy in 1807 through the electrolysis of caustic soda (NaOH). Barium was first isolated by Humphry Davy in 1808 through the electrolysis of molten baryta (BaO).

Cool flames were accidentally discovered in 1817 by Humphry Davy, at temperatures as low as 120 °C, fuel-air mixtures react chemically and produce very weak flames called cool flames. In 1809, Humphry Davy invented the first electric light. Davy connected two wires to a battery and attached a charcoal strip betwween the other ends of the wires. The charged carbon glowed making the first arc lamp. continue reading below our video How to Make a Monthly Budget That Works Davy later invented the miner's safety lamp in 1815. The lamp called firedamp or minedamp, allowed for the mining of deep seams despite the presence of methane and other flammable gases. Humphry Davy's laboratory assistant was Michael Faraday , who went on to extend Davy's work and became famous in his own right. Humphry Davy - Achievements Proved that it was not using two different metals that made the Voltaic Pile work. Discovered the medical properties of nitrous oxide or laughing gas.

Boron compounds have been known for thousands of years, but the element was not discovered until 1808 by Sir Humphry Davy, Gay-Lussac and Thenard. Performed the first electrochemical decompositions, isolating potassium, sodium, barium, strontium, calcium, and magnesium. Invented the first electric light. Invented the miner's safety lamp. The Miners’ Safety Lamp | Eric Edwards Collected Works Eric Edwards Collected Works Introduction Miners’ lamps in the Pitt Rivers Museum In case 141.A in the Court are displayed three examples of miners’ safety lamps. One lamp (1932.88.1152) was collected by Henry Balfour and donated by him in 1932. This lamp is of the type invented by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1816 and is an example employing wire gauze to make a naked flame safe in a gaseous atmosphere. Another lamp is made of brass and has a glass safety surround with above it a metal gauze tube. Another example is a later safety lamp (post 1839) with linear wick possibly burning naphthalene (lighter fuel).

The gauze does not go all the way to the top but ends in a gauze cap. The lamp is topped by a brass arch and hook for suspension. Situated in between these two is a later model (1930.22.2) that was once owned by Alfred Walter Francis. Fuller and donated in 1930, and is the French Marsaut type made after 1882. The lower part has a glass surround with an upper gauze chimney completely enclosed in a metal bonnet. Most miners’ safety lamps made after 1882 had gauzes protected by such bonnets. The miners’ safety lamp was first and foremost a methane detector. Moreover “…you can still buy one, because even today every pit deputy must carry one, despite the universal use of electricity for lighting collieries.” (Adams, 2005). Mine explosions due to fire-damp Towards the end of the 18th century explosions in coal mines increased because seams were being dug at deeper levels. The use of steam engines for hoisting and water pumping enabled colliery deepening in England. At deeper levels fire-damp (methane) was more prevalent.

At this time all explosions were attributed to fire-damp because the explosive nature of coal dust clouds was not recognised. Most explosions occurred at the point of a SDDDDDXtallow candle flame. Developing ventilation technology, which meant the presence of large pumps and winding gear both below and above ground, pushed the danger of fire-damp explosion into the background. Consequently, in the early 1800’s many pitmen died in northern England due to large colliery explosions. Indeed “…major incidents alone accounted for 558 deaths in Northumberland and Durham between 1786 and 1815…” (Adams, 2005). Fire-damp or methane (CH4) is carburetted hydrogen. The gas is lighter than air and usually colourless and odourless. Fire-damp derives from bacteriological decay of the vegetable matter cellulose. Fire-damp in mines is really trapped marsh gas produced by chemical processes completed many millions of years previously. Fire-damp is able to combine with twice its volume of oxygen and after explosion leaves one volume of carbon dioxide (CO2) and two of hydrogen. In order to become explosive fire-damp has to achieve critical mixtures.

A mixture of 90.5% air and 9.5% fire-damp can cause a devastating explosion but a mixture of about 7 or 8% of fire-damp is easier to ignite. The range of explosive capability is approximately mixtures of 5 to 15%. A devastating mine explosion will create havoc amongst the equipment situated below. Not only will the violence kill by blast and fire but wreck brattices (shaft partitions), destroy accumulated corves (baskets), tubs, rolleys (vehicles), ponies and horses. Moreover, the destruction of ventilation systems will lead to the asphyxiation of colliers by lethal after-damp resulting from combustion. This after-damp is a toxic gas mixture consisting of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. Another lethal gas, black damp or choke damp (also known as stythe) is formed in mines when oxygen is removed from an enclosed atmosphere. This asphyxiant consists of argon, water vapour, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The term damp is believed derived from the German dampf or vapours and similar mining terms are white-damp (carbon monoxide) and stink- damp (hydrogen sulphide).

Initially an explosion is a violent out-rush of gas from the ignition source, but an inevitable and following in-rush (termed an after-blast by miners) fills the vacuum left by cooling gases and steam condensation. There are many causes of ignition of fire-damp in mine explosions. In the early days explosions resulted mainly from naked flame lamps and the accumulations of gas called blowers. Other reasons included the use of the early flint steel mill, defective safety lamps, flame from shot firing tunnel explosives, and sparks from faulty machinery, metal implements, and electrical equipment. Historical background The Felling mine explosion, on the 25th of May 1812, was one of the first major pit disasters in England, and claimed 92 lives. This was the first great explosion that provided reasonably accurate records. Felling colliery, situated between Gateshead and Jarrow in County Durham (now South Tyneside), was extended in 1810 with a new deeper seam — Low Main. The pit had two shafts in use — William Pit and John Pit. The colliery was owned by John and William Brandling and their partners Grace and Henderson.

It was in the new seam that the engulfing explosion took place. An ignition of fire­damp triggered a coal dust explosion with devastating effect. The blast was heard up to 4 miles away and around the pit small coal, timber and wrecked corves (wagons or large baskets) rained down. Both headgears of the shafts were destroyed and a huge blanket of coal dust caused a dusk-like twilight in neighbouring Heworth where it descended like black snow. It took nearly seven weeks to remove the dead after putting out fires and waiting for the after-damp to disperse. Ninety-two men and boys lost their lives and the eventual funeral procession comprised ninety coffins when it finally reached the church. The aftermath of the tragedy was first effort to establish a properly co-ordinated movement of public opinion in favour of mine safety. This movement not only aroused scientific interest and endeavour in the cause of accident prevention. It also drew attention to the need for a flame lamp that would not ignite fire-damp, and to devise a means of lighting safe in a gaseous atmosphere.

A major protagonist in the campaign was one Reverend John Hodgeson (1779­1845), ministrant to the bereaved and he who buried their dead as incumbent of the parish of Jarrow and Heworth. Hodgeson was instrumental in establishing the accident prevention society which came to fruition in Sunderland on 1.10.1813. Sir Humphry Davy was enlisted by the Society in Sunderland to investigate the phenomenon of fire-damp. It was correspondence between Hodgeson and others that caused Davy to journey to Durham in 1815. Davy began work in August of that year on fire-damp dispatched from Hebburn Colliery in sealed wine bottles. Meanwhile, inspired by the Felling disaster “…an almost untutored genius at Killingworth Colliery on the north bank of the Tyne was trying independently to discover the means to produce a reliable lamp.” (Duckham, 1973). This was George Stephenson, a then unknown engineer, who was backed by a Nicholas wood, a Richard Lambert, and the Bramblings as owners of Felling Colliery.

Spedding devised the flint and steel mill in 1740 as the first serious attempt to provide pit lighting, but it proved to be of dubious safety as well as cumbersome and clumsy, requiring constant working by a boy. A famous medical member of the Society was a certain Dr William Reid Clanny (1776-1850) who himself since late 1811 had been attempting to devise a safety lamp. His efforts eventually had him awarded gold and silver medals by the Society of Arts. William Martin (1772-1851) also invented a safety lamp, accepted by pitmen but not by the mine-owners and it was suppressed. Martin, who lectured on Davy’s “murder” lamp tested his lamp at Willington Colliery, near Wallsend 1n 1818 (Adams, 2005). William Reid Clanny was an Irish inventor born in Bangor, County Down, in 1770, and who died in Sunderland (after practising as a physician for 45 years) in 1850.

Clanny invented the Clanny Safety Lamp in 1813 and published his observations in 1816. This lamp was first used Herringham Mill pit where Clanny had experimented in person. Northern coal owners and other contemporaries noted the value of his lamp which was emphasised in his obituary in the Sunderland Herald. After his first “blast lamp” of 1813 he maintained his interest in lighting in gaseous environments and created six other lamps. The last two are regarded as true Clanny lamps, between 1839 and 1842. The 1813 lamp, which was an oil lamp, was operated by a bellows with the flame isolated behind glass by water reservoirs. It was seen as clumsy and, as it went out in the presence of gas, of little practicality in a coal mine. On Clanny’s lamp Stephenson considered “…it as constructed upon a principle entirely different from mine, that of separating the external and internal hydrogen by means of water.” (Stephenson, 1817 a).

George Stephenson’s Geordie lamp George Stephenson was born in Wylam (as was William Hedley the inventor of the locomotive “Puffing Billy”) nine miles west of Newcastle on 9.6.1781 and died 12.8.1848. He was the second son of Robert Stephenson, foreman of the Wylam Colliery pumping engine. Aged 14 he was an assistant fireman to his father at Dewley Colliery, then at Duke’s Winning Pit at Newburn. Aged 17 he was engineman at Water Row Pit west of Newburn and in 1801 began working at Dolly pit at Black Callerton Colliery as a “brakeman” (controlling pit winding gear). Married in 1802 he moved to Wilkington Quay east of Newcastle working as a brakeman. He moved again, as a brakeman, in 1804 to West Moor working at Killingworth Pit and the adjacent Mid Hill Winning Pit. The pumping engine at High Pit, Killingworth, had to be repaired by him in 1811.

As a result he was elevated to an engine-wright for the surrounding collieries of Killingworth. Yet it was not until 1799 that he began, in his spare time, to learn to read and write. After the Felling disaster Stephenson began, in 1813, experimenting with a safety lamp that could employ a naked flame without igniting an explosion. It was his conclusion that “… if a lamp could be made to contain the burnt air above the flame, and permit the firedamp to come in below in small quantity to be burnt as it came in, the burnt air would prevent the passing of the explosion upwards and the velocity of the current from below would also prevent its passing downwards.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1962). It was after 1811, to Stephenson’s credit, that he started to apply his inventive capacities to design a miners’ safety lamp. His design was one which used small tubes to allow the entry of air to support combustion and passage of gases. This lamp design was arrived at by trial and error and the prototype was tested at Killingworth on 21.10.1815.

An improved version was tested again on the 4.11.1815 and 30.11.1815, and shown to R. W. Brambling and a Mr Murray on the 24th of November, when he “…had just built his first locomotive at Killingworth Colliery.” (Adams, 2005). The test was at a fire-damp issuing fissure underground in Killingworth pit a month before Sir Humphry Davy presented his design to the Royal Society in London. Stephenson showed his successful safety lamp design to the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society on 5.12.1815. Stephenson’s lamp became known as the Geordie lamp. Unlike the Davy lamp it had no gauze but glass around the flame, gave a brighter light and was popular with miners. Glass breakage was a problem with the Geordie lamp but, with the invention of safety glass, this was later resolved. The Geordie lamp, unlike the Davy lamp, was employed exclusively in the north east pits. Stephenson was unaware that Sir Humphry Davy was working on the same problem.

Sir Humphry applied scientific methods and analysis whereas Stephenson relied on practical empiricism and, lacking Davy’s laboratory facilities, worked in his own home and was obviously “…blessed with a fertile mind and considerable mechanical ingenuity.” (Barnard, 1936). Sir Humphry Davy’s lamp The Davy lamp of 1815 contained a candle, even though he is recognised as the inventor of the safer oil burning lamp, and some of the ideas of Canny and Stephenson. The Sunderland Society for the Prevention of Accidents in Mines charged Sir Humphry Davy with investigation of the problem of mine explosions. It was Davy who surmised that a flame cannot ignite fire-damp or mine-damp if contained with a wire mesh. He showed this using a 28 openings to the inch metal gauze. This mesh screen, using two concentric mesh tubes to increase safety, cooled combustion products so that flame heat was too low to ignite the gases outside the gauze. This gauze contraption functioned therefore as a flame arrestor. The fine mesh permitted methane to pass through but stopped the passage of the flame itself.

The first trial was carried out at Hebburn Colliery on 9.1.1816. Flammable gases were noted to burn with a blue tinge flame and when placed on the ground the flame went out due to accumulations of the asphyxiant gas (CO2) known as black-damp or choke-damp. Davy was performing experiments with fire-damp at the same time as others. In 1815 he realised that the holes of fine metal gauze acted the same as narrow tubes (viz Stephenson’s lamp), thus mine air passed through small orifices fed a flame that would not ignite the outside gas. Davy’s original experiments with fire-damp “…discovered its ‘lag’ on ignition.” (Barnard, 1936). Davy’s lamp [see 1932.88.1152] was eventually surrounded by metal mesh and thus differed from Stephenson’s lamp with its glass surround.

Thus Davy wrote, in a communication of 1816 that his “… invention consists in covering or surrounding the flame of a lamp or candle by a wire sieve…”, and further that his object “…at present is only to point out their application to the use of the collier.” (Davy, 1816 b.) The controversy over priority Davy was in France and Italy 1813 to 1815 but on his return started experiments with lamps for colliery use. H. R. Clanny and the then unknown George Stephenson had already shown the idea of a safety lamp. In 1813 the Society for Preventing Accidents in Coal Mines was formed in Sunderland (TWAS 1589 cited Smith, J. 2001) and which was directed by Reverend John Hodgeson who invited Davy in 1815 to research fire-damp (Northumberland Record Office, cited in Smith. 2001). George Stephenson was directly involved as a mining engineer and already experimenting with fire-damp and a safety lamp (Stephenson, 1817 a).

In his own time Stephenson’s research led to “…the consequent formation of a Safety Lamp, which has been, and is still, used in that concern…” which his friends considered “…as precisely the same in principle with that subsequently presented to their notice by Sir Humphry Davy.” (Stephenson, 1817 b). It was to Stephenson that we were “… indebted for the discovery of the Principle of Safety…” that hydrogen will not explode down narrow tubes and “…will hereafter recognise as the Stephenson Principle.” (Charnley, 1817). The Principle was pointed out to several persons long before Davy came into the County, and Stephenson’s lamp was in the hands of the manufacturer during Davy’s visit. (Stephenson, 1817 b.). Stephenson made “…three lamps, all perfectly safe: and by following precisely the same steps, Sir Humphry Davy was enabled subsequently to construct one…” (Charnley, 1817). The Northumberland Record Office possesses 37 unpublished letters signed by Davy dated September 1815 to March 10th, 1818, and known as the Hodgeson Bequest.

Within this context Davy made “…complete acknowledgement of the priority of Mr Stephenson’s claims”, and moreover “…acknowledges the same principle of safety which Mr Stephenson had previously established and proceeded with his experiments in the same way.” (Charnley, 1817). Admitting that “…my habits, as a practical mechanic, make me afraid of publishing theories…” Stephenson avowed that the principle “…has been successfully applied in the construction of a lamp that may be carried with perfect safety into the most explosive atmosphere” (Stephenson, 1817 a). Davy’s response described the dispute as a “…indirect attack on my scientific fame, my honour, and veracity.” (Davy, cited in Smith, J. 2001). It seemed to many that “…the invention of a miners’ lamp, similar in design to Davy’s, with a measure of evidence to suggest priority, by a largely uneducated colliery engineer, stuck in Davy’s craw.” (Smith, J. 2001). Especially as Stephenson had previously announced to many associates the principles of his lamp and begun its manufacture (Newcastle Chronicle, 1815, November 2nd).

Davy only announced the results of his fire-damp experiments on 19th October. In 1816 Davy was awarded £2000 as a public testimonial for his lamp whereas Stephenson received a miserly 100 guineas. The following furore at such a snub resulted in a local subscription that raised £1000 from local dignitaries, colliery owners and managers. A Resolution of the Coal Trade, August 319% 1816, considered the award to Davy for his safety lamp, but an adjourned coal owners meeting, 11.10.1816, credited Davy with inventing the safety lamp. At this point Stephenson joined the fray with letters, with supporting correspondents, in the Newcastle Chronicle. A supporter opined “Mr Geo Stephenson, of Killingworth Colliery, was the person who first discovered and applied the principle upon which lamps may be constructed.” (Brandling, 1816, Newcastle Chronicle, August 29th).

Davy among many derided Stephenson and poured scorn on his invention and the priority dispute became “…characterised by local patriotism on the one hand and academic sneers on the other…” (Duckham. 1973). The experience with Davy made Stephenson distrust theoretical and scientific experts based in London for the remainder of his life. Davy has been described as “…less than fair to the man who was to father Britain’s railways” (Duckham, 1973), especially for others as the evidence awards conclusively “…the priority to Stephenson in the invention of the miners lamp.” (Smith, 2001). In token of gratitude Davy was awarded £2000 at the same time as Stephenson was accused of stealing Davy’s idea, and it is regrettable that “…Davy regarded Stephenson as no more than a pirate…” (Knight, 1996). It is noteworthy that Davy received his award “…at a banquet presided over by his old friend John Lambton, afterwards Earl of Durham, who had been with him at Bristol under the care of Dr Beddoes.” (Hartley, 1971).

Stephenson was exonerated by a local enquiry committee, termed Stephensonians, who awarded him £1000 but this proved unacceptable to Davy’s supporters. They refused to recognise how an uneducated man had arrived at the solution he had. It was only in 1833 that Stephenson was given equal claim to priority by a House of Commons Committee. Conclusion The miners’ safety lamp was an “… icon of the industrial revolution every bit as powerful as Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ or the Iron Bridge at Coalbrookdale.” (Adams, 2005). The miners’ lamp, to whomever its invention may be credited “…should be regarded as a landmark in the history of civilisation.” (Barnard, 1936). With regard to his lamp Stephenson said it “…might be considered a want of candour were I not to take notice of the lamp constructed my Dr Clanny…” (Stephenson, 1817 b). Whereas it seems “…less than justice to Stephenson, that history seems to accept Davy’s right to priority, when the evidence suggests otherwise.” (Smith, 2001).

After the introduction of the Davy lamp there was an increase in mine explosions for a number of reasons. Firstly mine-owners delayed in installing gas extractors: secondly it encouraged re-opening dangerous pits, and working in methane rich seams was not curtailed. Also lamps were purchased by the miners, as well as the expensive candles from the company store, and not provided by the owners. Stephenson’s lamp became popular in the north east coalfields but Davy’s lamp was introduced elsewhere. The priority controversy continues to reverberate to the present day as it has come to be recognised that “… Davy was not the inventor of the safety lamp…” and that “…his lamp was not really safe.” (Adams, 2005). Davy’s lamp was cheaper and thus preferred by the mine-owners. The attitude may mean the “…liberty of laissez-faire might imply the coal-owner was master in his own house; for the collier it merely secured his freedom to die violently by earth, fire or water.” (Duckham, 1973). Also Davy’s lamp, in wet conditions, deteriorated rapidly and rusting metal gauze made it even more unsafe.

Both the Davy Lamp and Stephenson’s lamp became “… unsafe in rapidly moving air-currents.” (Barnard, 1936). In effect — fire-damp explosions increased. Nonetheless the wire gauze of Davy’s lamp was eventually used in every subsequent safety lamp, with modifications, for nearly 200 years. It is noteworthy that Stephenson later adopted the principle of Davy’s gauze instead of tubes — it is this revised design that became known in the 19th century as the “Geordie Lamp”. Regardless of who first invented the ‘first’ safety flame lamp for mines there is an important point to note. Its success was the culmination of principles discovered by three men — William R. Clanny, George Stephenson, and Sir Humphry Davy. Neither Davy or Stephenson patented their lamp designs. All three inventors worked independently, all around the same time, and each had some knowledge at least of each others work. It was Clanny who separated the flame from the firedamp atmosphere of the mine. It was Davy who first enclosed the flame in wire gauze. It was Stephenson who first left a space above the flame for burnt air.

And indeed the lamps of the three were all eventually fitted with wire gauze. The lamps were thus the fruits of work representing an “…untypical conjuncture of requirements of growing industrialism and the resources of scientific enquiry.” (Duckham, 1973). The modified lamps have remained an integral part of the mining industry up to and beyond the demise of most of the coal industry after the colliery closures following the miners strike of 1984. References and sources consulted Adams, Max. Humphry Davy and the Murder Lamp: Max Adams Investigates the truth behind the Introduction of a Key Invention of the Early Industrial Revolution. History Today, Vol 55, August 2005. Bod Camera, S.Hist. Per 12. Barnard, T. R.. Miners’ Safety Lamps. Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons Ltd, London, 1936. RSL: 186415.e.34 Brandling, 1816. Newcastle Chronicle, August 29th. Charnley, E..

A Collection of all the Letters which have appeared in the Newcastle Papers, with other documents, relating to the Safety lamps. By S. Hodgeson, Newcastle, 1817. Bod 247828.e.4. Clanny, William Reid. Practical observations on safety lamps for coal mines. Garbutt, G. Sunderland, 1816. Davies, H. George Stephenson. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1975. Davy, Humphry. (a) On the Fire-Damp of Coal Mines and on Methods of Lighting the Mines So as to Prevent Its Explosion. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Vol 106, 1816, 1-22 Davy, Humphry. (b) An Account of an Invention for Giving light in Explosive Mixtures of Fire-Damp in Coal Mines, by Consuming the Fire-Damp. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Vol 106, 1816, 23-24. Davy, Humphry. (c) Philosophical Magazine. 47 (212).

1816 Davy, Humphry. On the safety lamp for preventing explosions in mines… Hunter, R. London, 1825. Dictionary of National Biography. Duckham, H. & B. Great Pit Disasters: Great Britain 1700 to the Present day. David & Charles, 1973. Bod Stack 1795.e.569. Encyclopaedia Britannica, London, 1962. Vol 19 (809d). Hartley, Sir H. Humphry Davy. S.R. Publishers Ltd, 1971. Hendrick, D.J. & Sizer, K. E. “Breathing” coal mines and surface asphyxiation from stythe (blackdamp). BMJ. 305, August 29, 1992. Knight, D. Humphry Davy. Cambridge U P, 1996. Lawrence, C. The Power and the Glory: Humphry Davy and Romanticism. In Cunningham, A & Jardine, N. Romanticism and the Sciences.

CUP, 1990. Newcastle. Report upon the claims of Mr. George Stephenson, relative to the invention of his safety lamp. Constable and Co. Edinburgh, 1817. Newcastle Chronicle, 2.11.1815. Newcastle Courant, 26.10.1815 North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers. See: . Northumberland Record Office. ZAN/M.14/A.1. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004. Smith, Alan. Newcomen Bulletin. September 1998 (cited in Smith, J. 2001). Smith, Jeffrey. George Stephenson and the Miner’s Lamp Controversy. North East History, 34, 2001. Bod Stack P.F.04009 Stephenson, G. (a) A Description of the Safety Lamp, invented by George Stephenson, and now in use in Killingworth Colliery. 2nd Edition. Constable and Co, Edinburgh, 1817.

Bod 247828.e.4 Stephenson, G. (b) Philosophical Magazine. March, 1817. Tyne and Wear Archives, TWAS 1589. Eric W Edwards. Balfour Library Assistant. July 2009. 3620 words excluding reference Chronology of the Stephenson and Davy Lamps Sept 1815. Stephenson publishes principle of lamp. 15.10.1815 Davy receives fire-damp 19.10.1815 Davy realises explosion will not pass through small tubes 21.10.1815 Stephenson tests his tube lamp in Killingworth Colliery 25.10.1815 Davy announces discovery to Chemical Society, London 30.10.1815 Davy describes his principle on tubes in lamps 4.11.1815 Stephenson tests improved lamp in Killingworth Colliery 9.11.1815 Davy announces Tube Lamp to Royal Society, London. Report in Newcastle Chronicle, 23.12.1815.

24.11.1815 Stephenson orders double perforated plate lamp. Lamp shown to Mr Brambling and Mr Murray. 30.11.1815 Stephenson tries modified lamp in Killingworth Colliery 5.12.1815 Stephenson shows his successful lamp to the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society 23.12.1815 Davy announces principle of gauze lamp. Date of Newcastle Chronicle report of Davy’s gauze lamp. 9.1.1816 First trial of Davy’s gauze lamp at Hebburn Colliery. 9.11.1816 Davy writes in Newcastle that double gauze in preferable. Share this:

Question: Who invented the Miners Safety Lamp in 1815?
Answer: Humphrey Davy